{"id":189,"date":"2020-01-10T13:36:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T20:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/?p=189"},"modified":"2020-01-10T15:27:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T22:27:21","slug":"from-one-way-streets-to-four-lane-freeways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/from-one-way-streets-to-four-lane-freeways\/","title":{"rendered":"From one way streets to four-lane freeways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio alignleft\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/Sofia.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Gabriela Linares talks about traveling to a new country with only memories of her homeland of El Salvador.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A baby blanket, pillow case, and photo album are the only items Gabriela Linares brought with her to the United States. She\u2019s a long way from home but can depend on these treasured pieces to bring back memories of her early life in El Salvador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Linares is a 24-year-old student at California State University, Northridge. She moved to Sylmar, just outside Los Angeles, when she was 14; the same age her parents were when they had her. While living in El Salvador she was raised by her grandmother, who she calls Mama Sonia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/IMG_3914-775x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/IMG_3914-775x1024.jpg 775w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/IMG_3914-227x300.jpg 227w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/IMG_3914-768x1015.jpg 768w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/IMG_3914.jpg 1143w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><figcaption><br>Gabriela Linares holds the baby blanket, pillowcase, and photograph she brought with her to the U.S. (<em>Photo by Sofia Gutierrez)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most shocking things she remembers of her early days in the U.S. is seeing a four-lane freeway for the first time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignwide\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIn El Salvador we don&#8217;t have anything that&#8217;s similar to a freeway. We have a fast lane, but nothing like that.\u201d<\/p><cite>Gabriela Linares<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The fast roads of California meant she no longer had to take buses or drive for 40 minutes to the nearest Burger King, like she did back in El Salvador. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>American food was distinctly different from back home, especially the portion sizes. Linares remembers her first trip to a Japanese restaurant with her mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey bought this big boat of food [with] sushi and meats and stuff like that. And I was like, \u2018Wow! We should have this in El Salvador. People will go crazy about it.\u2019 That was the very first shock \u2026 just being able to finish the whole boat, the four of us it was \u2026 crazy to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But life in a new country wasn\u2019t easy. Since coming to the U.S. at the age of 14, she\u2019s had to adjust to traffic and American culture&nbsp; \u2014 and deal with the language barrier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Linares started high school in California she was immediately placed into a class for English language learners. She was able to recognize people who spoke Spanish \u2014 like her \u2014 by overhearing conversations. Linares recalls trying to make friends with some girls in the school yard, but not everyone was friendly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was like, \u2018OK, I&#8217;m gonna be friends with them.\u2019 So I walked up to them and [said] <em>\u2018Hola, \u00bfc\u00f3mo est\u00e1n?\u2019<\/em> And I just remember this because &#8230; that was the most, I don\u2019t know how to explain it, a cultural shock, in a sense. The girl turned around to me and she goes, \u2018We don&#8217;t speak Spanish here. We&#8217;re in America.\u2019 But then she turned around and she kept talking in Spanish with her friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although she felt rejected, Linares was able to use the experience&nbsp; as motivation to keep learning English. She even spoke the language with her family at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"765\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-765x1024.jpg 765w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-768x1028.jpg 768w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-1147x1536.jpg 1147w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2-1200x1607.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2020\/01\/PHOTO-2.jpg 1227w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px\" \/><figcaption>Gabriela Linares\u2019 baby picture laying over her blanket. <em>(Photo by Sofia Gutierrez)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Another cultural shock Linares faced upon her arrival was how open the LGBTQ community was in the U.S. In El Salvador her grandmother, who is a psychologist, repeatedly denied her sexuality and told her she was \u201cgoing through a phase.\u201d Now, her grandmother has accepted her orientation as a queer woman. Her parents, on the other hand, weren\u2019t shocked at all. They said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c \u2018[We] already knew it. We were just waiting on you. It was really obvious. Why didn&#8217;t you feel more comfortable with telling us?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the adjustments to life in the U.S. were inevitable, Linares believes the process was easier for her than others. Going to school allowed her to fully submerge herself into the customs of America. She has now adapted to the changes, but still carries her home country\u2019s memories with her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How one Salvadoran woman paved her future in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csun2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}